MiG-21 F-13 (F-Toys) in North Korean service 2014
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2025 8:05 am
In the secretive Democratic People's Republic of Korea, a vintage 1960s MiG-21 F-13 is still flown by the country's Air Force.
Sometimes when other builds get bogged down, it is fun to just build something. This model started out like that, putting together one of the F-Toys first generation MiGs without any specific plan for it.
Here she is with some of her contemporary build cousins.
It is an earlier F-Toys model so needs some fettling for good results. Unfortunately at some point in the process, the nose cone got damaged and I had to hide it with a repair panel. Unlike the later model Fishbeds, the FOD panel on the F-13 only partly covers the nose cone, so looks a little odd.
As a result I picked a quick and easy scheme for this project. I found a few photos of this airframe still in use in 2014 - apparently it was displayed at an airshow with a female pilot in 2016. The scheme was easy to make up with spare decals and a handy female pilot figure from Heroes Models added that particular detail too.
The vehicle is an Eastern Express Airport Service model. A rather basic product that certainly doesn't have the same level of detail as the many 3d printed resin examples now available, but does at least have clear parts rather than necessitating painted windows.
A simple base finished the scene. A pretty straight forward build, despite the nose cone issues, that still makes for an interesting and unusual addition to my display collection.
It will be appearing on the SIG144 table this year at shows. Thanks for reading, comments welcome.
